Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for masking fastener holes in a wheel, more particularly a light-alloy wheel, whereby masking elements are inserted in a pilot hole of the fastener hole to mask the fastener holes during a coating process. Furthermore, the invention relates to a apparatus for implementing such a method.
A variety of coating processes are employed in the manufacture of vehicle wheels. The coatings are provided particularly for improving corrosion protection. The fastener holes in the wheels must be masked for this purpose, since the wheel fasteners may otherwise come loose on the road. This is the reason why masking elements are manually inserted into the fastener holes, and manually removed later upon completion of the coating process. For this purpose more particularly peg-type masking elements are used shaped for facilitated manual handling. The process of inserting and removing the masking elements manually is quite labor intensive and thus results in increased production costs.